The Sheriff’s Son: Central Dauphin’s Nick Chimienti lays down the law for the Rams on offense, defense

Posted Nov 08, 2019

Dauphin County Sheriff Nick Chimienti Jr. (right) for a moment wanted his son to be a boxer like Nick Chimienti Sr., but Central Dauphin safety Nick Chimienti (left) is likely on his way to a Division I school to play college football.Edward Sutelan

Nick Chimienti Jr. has a story for every photo. And he has a lot of photos.

His phone is filled with thousands of them, and Wednesday he scrolled through the years. There’s him and his son, Nick Chimienti III — though he only goes by Nick Chimienti — at a Penn State game when Nick was 7. There’s Nick as a rising junior being trained by one of his friends, former NFL safety Bo Orlando.

As Chimienti Jr., the Dauphin County sheriff, goes through each picture, Nick sits quietly, watching the Golden State Warriors play the Houston Rockets, relaxing after Central Dauphin’s practice. The star safety and wide receiver will help lead his No. 3 Rams in their 7 p.m. matchup tonight at No. 2 Manheim Township in the District 3, Class 6A tournament semifinals.

“We have long practices, especially today. Today was a long one," Nick tells his dad. "I was playing quarterback today.”

The photos leave the phone and sprawl onto the walls of the Ringside Lounge, the name for Chimienti Jr.'s basement. Fifty-nine pictures of his father, former middleweight boxer Nick Chimienti Sr., and other fighters he’s met over the years — Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Mike Tyson, Kid Gavilan, Sugar Ray Robinson — adorn the tan walls as a tribute to his father’s boxing career. The room’s two large televisions, sprawling brown chaise couch, complete bar, barstools and dining table and chairs make it the ideal location for a fight night viewing party.

There, to the left of the garage door, is Chimienti Sr. with former heavyweight champion Joe Louis. And there, mixed among the 34 photos to the right of the door and left of the refrigerator, is Chimienti Sr. with another former boxing champion, Jack Dempsey.

There was “a second” Chimienti Jr. admits he wanted his son to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps and become a boxer. There was never a doubt for Nick which sport his eyes were set on: football.

He has, at least, finely tuned one trait when it comes to following in footsteps, though. Like his dad, Nick is pretty good at laying down the law — at least on the football field. Just check out the big hit he delivered in the Harrisburg game.

“Growing up, I never thought of boxing,” Nick said. “I played baseball and basketball. I didn’t start playing football until sixth grade. I started kinda late.”

The Chimientis held Nick back from playing when he was younger — doctors told them it might not be good for a younger person. But there was only so long they could keep him off the field.

When they went to a Penn State game when Nick was 7, he caught footballs out at the tailgate, and other parents remarked that “wouldn’t it be something if he played college ball,” Chimienti said.

Nick eventually wore them down in the sixth grade.

"And then it was on,” Chimienti said.

Nick Chimienti Jr. (left) with his son, Nick Chimienti, at a Penn State game.
Courtesy of Nick Chimienti Jr. Nick Chimienti Jr. Special to PennLive

Getting into football

They didn't just start playing football.

Nope. They treated this as serious business.

Nick set up an obstacle course in the backyard — complete with cones, a ladder and a four-wheeler with locked brakes to push across the yard before running up a hill next to the house.

His mom, Kathy, was his quarterback.

“I can’t throw a football. I can’t throw a spiral. I throw a duck,” Chimienti Jr. said. “I’d say, ‘Hey, you want to throw a ball?’ He’d say, ‘No Dad, I want to throw with mom.’”

Nick’s first taste of competitive football was with the Linglestown Colts youth football team. He was smaller than most of the kids, and was always at the bottom row of team photos, but the physical part of the game didn’t bother him. It was the pads and playing with all the extra equipment.

Chimienti didn’t know much about football. Boxing had always been his sport, so he set out to connect Nick with guys who could improve his game.

That included former Harrisburg and Lock Haven University defensive back Daniel Strawbridge and later Orlando. The first time Chimienti took his son to meet with Orlando, they forgot to bring a football with them. Orlando assured them there would be no need for one.

Instead, they worked on fast feet, weaves, transition steps, getting in and out of breaks, man-to-man and zone techniques and cone drills.

Before long, it was clear Nick was going to be someone to watch out for on the football field. At first, he was told as a sophomore that he would play. Then he was told he would start.

Nick said that when his dad started to run for sheriff of the county in 2015, classmates at school said they didn’t even know there was a sheriff.

“They thought it was just the old-time movies and stuff like that,” he said.

Chimienti was elected as the county sheriff in 2016, but when Nick began starting for the Central Dauphin football team as a sophomore in 2017, that didn’t stop his dad from coming out to the games. And as Nick grew more into the team, so too did Chimienti. Before long he was finding ways to merge his profession with his son’s team.

Inspired by the Gold Star Moms game, which Central Dauphin played to honor the mothers of fallen soldiers, Chimienti decided to work with the booster club to create another game that would honor police officers or firefighters killed in the line of duty. He started collaborating with the club in 2018, and the first Thin Blue Line game was held on Oct. 4, 2019.

“To be able to play for people who have sacrificed so much, the ultimate sacrifice really, it’s hard to describe," Central Dauphin coach Glen McNamee said. "And to do it for two separate games, you know we usually have five home games. You’re talking about 40 percent of our home games at Landis Field are dedicated to playing for these very, very special people. It’s emotional. It’s meaningful and very memorable.”

Central Dauphin's Nick Chimienti runs against Chambersburg in their week 9 high school football game at Landis Field. Oct. 18, 2019. Sean Simmers | ssimmers@pennlive.com

McNamee said the game brought Chimienti more into the fold, and slowly he started to interact more with the Rams. At one of the team’s dinners, he brought out his speaker and started playing music.

This was not something new to those who had been around Chimienti. Senior running back Elijah Vargas, a close friend of Nick’s, had been to his house many times to play football, swim in the pool and play video games, and he said Chimienti would play all different kinds of music: country, rock, hip-hop.

Not all of it was to the kids’ liking.

“Sometimes I’m just like, ah, come on,” Vargas said.

But Chimienti is “a kid at heart,” McNamee said, and that personality makes him a draw for the players.

Where Chimienti is an outgoing personality, Nick tends to be on the more quiet side. Given the “Joe Cool Award” in baseball for being quiet after diving catches, he rarely makes a spectacle out on the field, regardless of the play. He has only twice drawn attention to himself: that hit against Harrisburg and another after a collision with a referee.

The collision with the ref happened in the middle of the field with Nick streaming behind all the defensive backs and a perfect pass sailing his way against Wilson. It could’ve given Central Dauphin a lead. They lost, 21-13.

“Usually I don’t say anything, I just get up,” Nick said. “But something there just like snapped. I was just mad. We were losing, we were down and that was a for-sure touchdown and that right there changed the game really.”

Central Dauphin's Nick Chimienti during the National Anthem against Chambersburg in their week 9 high school football game at Landis Field. Sean Simmers | ssimmers@pennlive.com

Football after Central Dauphin

Both the Chimientis know Nick’s time as a high-school player is nearing an end. His final game could be as soon as Friday –– Manheim Township is undefeated an already owns a win over the Rams.

So while Nick is busy and doesn’t spend a ton of time thinking about the future, his dad encourages him to take a few moments to “take it all in.”

“The feeling that he has right now, that’s got to be one (heckuva) feeling,” Chimienti said.

The family still plans on traveling to see his games. Chimienti will try to find time to take off from work to head out to wherever Nick’s next stop will be. But it won’t quite be the same.

Nick has played football with these players all his life, even before he was allowed to play football. Ryan Hohenshelt, Cameron Sansoni, Tyrese Fuller, Vargas: they’ve all been in the backyard with him for years.

“I can’t picture not playing with the kids I play with now,” Nick said.

But for right now, he’s not too worried about that. Calm and quiet, he’s just focused on the game he has ahead of him.

Some day, his pictures from his playing days in Central Dauphin will decorate the walls of his own lounge. He’ll be able to point up on the wall and talk about who he crossed paths with while he played high school football. A signed football here. Maybe a jersey there. But he’s still got time. Right now he’s just focused on making the most of his time and making sure the memories in all the photos are worth remembering.

And, if someone happens to run a crossing route in front him between now and then, well, the Sheriff’s son might just have to lay down the law, again.